- Commercial Lawyers, Fiji -

Providing commercial legal services in Fiji and the Asia-Pacific region

Intellectual Property

Our firm provides Intellectual Property law services throughout the Asia – Pacific region. For more than 10 years our firm has provided professional IP services through our IP department known as the Pacific Islands Intellectual Property Services (PIIPS). PIIPS has been specifically designed to meet the needs of clients who want cost effective and efficient services in the Asia Pacific region with a particular focus on the Pacific Islands where relationships with registries are so important. Chambers & Partners recognises more than 10 years of dedicated service as follows: “A leading IP offering that services international clients on registrations throughout the Pacific Islands.”

PIIPS is led by our partners Aminiasi Vulaono and Artika Prasad who is described by Chambers & Partners as follows: 'Artika Prasad leads the firm's IP practice, servicing the regional needs of international companies and law firms, as well as large Fijian organisations. She is recommended as "very efficient, very timely and very professional," and for "always providing excellent client service."'

PIIPS is a regular contributor to a range of expert IP publications and has just had a chapter published in Trademarks Throughout the World published by Thomson Reuters. PIIPS has a number of articles on the following links

Commercial Law

We are a full service commercial law firm. Our commercial law team is led by Atu Siwatibau who has 20 years of experience of commercial law in both an Auckland CBD law firm and in Fiji. The focus of our commercial law team is to deliver practical and efficient advice that is situated for the Fiji context. Our particular areas of expertise and interest include construction law, energy law, mergers and acquisitions and all aspects of commercial contracts. Chambers and Partners describes Atu Siwatibau as follows: Atu Siwatibau is a highly regarded practitioner with an established reputation for construction industry matters. One source comments: "He doesn't shirk any responsibility and is able to localise our ideas for the Fiji environment."

Oceans Law

Oceans Law and Policy Services, Pacific

The Pacific Islands occupy a vast area that spans the Western Pacific Ocean and are blessed with a wealth of resources. However global environmental challenges like overfishing and climate change threaten these valuable resources. Overfishing results in depleted fish stocks and with climate change, sea levels are likely to rise, natural disasters may increase and displacement of fish stocks is likely.

There are opportunities to address these challenges and work with the many regional and national stakeholders and institutions that seek to promote sustainable use of our oceans resources and increase resilience to disasters. However, these opportunities require cooperation, collaboration, knowledge sharing and good decision-making processes at every governance level and to be effective must be based on a good understanding of the Pacific Island nation’s law and governance contexts.

Through our services, we hope to contribute to the discourse, provide expert analysis around the law and governance contexts, promote a collaborative approach to decision making and encourage good governance at every level. This is why our firm has specialised in oceans law and policy.

We undertake our oceans law work under the banner Oceans Law and Policy Services, Pacific, and amongst other things, we produce an oceans law bulletin that aims to increase knowledge of the Fiji and Pacific context. Our bulletins can be found in Legal Resources and are published periodically and regional experts are reporting that is the bulletins are shaping up to be a useful source of legal information.

Our Oceans Law and Policy Services team is led by James Sloan who has a particular interest and focus on the legal and governance contexts in Fiji and other Pacific Islands and administrative law. Oceans Law is a wide topic and it encompasses a variety of legal areas including the Law of the Sea, International law, environmental law and administrative law.

Our team can assist in the following areas:

Law and policy research and advice

Legal and governance analysis

Advice on how to structure any project to accord with the governance context

Advice in relation to decision-making processes to take into account the context and pre-existing rights that include traditional rights

Leveraging our extensive network and relationships with the many stakeholders in this area to assist clients achieve their goals

Business Start Up & Foreign Investment

For more than 10 years our firm has assisted foreign investors, businesses, and NGOs establish themselves in Fiji. Our specialist team is happy to provide initial advice on the appropriate structure and legal requirements without charge to determine how our firm may best assist. Particular areas of law include: company law advice, charitable trust advice, work permit requirements, employment law requirements, and regulatory compliance. Our experience has shown us that in the Fiji context early, competent and cost-sensitive legal advice is essential to the long-term success of any venture.

Commercial Property

Our firm specialises in commercial and real property transactions, where we offer a complete range of services that encompasses the most tax efficient way to structure our clients’ property transactions. Our property team specialises in land acquisitions, large residential transactions, commercial property, sale and purchase of hotels and or resort, integrated tourism project set ups and related transactions. In our property team we have 3 lawyers who have received specialist training in strata titling.

We provide up-front fee quotes and are happy to set out each stage of property transactions in the Fiji context. Our experience has shown us that while property transactions can take time, it is vitally important that corners are not cut in this process.

If you have a property law related question, then contact Seini: seini@sas.com.fj

Commercial Litigation

Our commercial litigation team has a wealth of experience at every court level and brings years of experience from Fiji, the US and the UK. Our approach to litigation is practical and we will always advise our clients on the likely costs and best avenues up-front. We see our role as guiding our clients towards the best outcome while preserving and upholding their legal rights. We provide up-front fee quotes and free consultations to determine the best strategy for our clients and whether we can assist.

About Siwatibau & Sloan

Our firm is interested in partnering with clients who want to invest in Fiji and the Pacific region.

We provide professional services within our areas of specialism that include: Intellectual Property, Commercial law, Oceans law and policy, Business and foreign investment, Commercial property and Commercial litigation. We always provide time to prospective clients to talk about their matter and determine whether our firm is the right fit and can assist them. If we are the right fit, and in the spirit of partnership, we provide fixed fee quotes, set out what we will do and stick to our promises in terms of service delivery. If we are not the right fit or your work is not in our areas of specialism, we are always happy to provide references for other firms who may be able to assist.

Within our firm, our focus is on developing leadership, professionally rewarding career opportunities and sustainable growth of our business.

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The firm's "focus on customer service and the delivery of excellent legal advice in a timely manner to clients" is remarked upon by several referees, one of whom testifies: "We found that Siwatibau & Sloan could dedicate more time to our issues, completed them quickly and provided practical advice at an excellent price point."